Television sporting event broadcasts add excitement and an added dimension of participation through the use of slow motion and normal speed replay of an especially exciting or controversial portion of the game or event. For example, during a televised tennis match, viewers expect to see a sequence of spectacular play repeated, whether in slow motion or normal speed, with televised commentary accompanying and describing the replay. However, because of the finite number of cameras used to videotape an event, the best angle with which to observe a particular portion of play is not always available for replay. Unavailability of a well placed camera becomes increasingly vexing to viewers during an especially controversial play, viewers frequently desiring to observe a controversial play or game sequence from a viewing position which best represents the controversial aspects of the play or sequence.
Additionally, several sports also permit a review of a controversial officiating call through the observed replay of game video. A similar problem with camera location can occur in these instances. A view of the action leading to the controversial call may not have been captured by any video camera, game officials or players obscuring the view of the action required to make a determination. The difficulty imposed by the absence of an appropriate view during these instances is amplified in those cases when no official was in a suitable position to make a reasonably based judgment call as to what had transpired and the official is forced to guess as to what occurred.
Further, sports such as auto racing and downhill skiing have incorporated video cameras within a participant's equipment to allow for a televised depiction of a "participant's eye view" as a sporting event unfolds. Because of limitations with the weight and size of video equipment, and the restrictive aspects therein, this technology has not readily lent itself to sports in which a player's speed, quickness, and agility, such as baseball, basketball, and tennis, are of paramount importance. The ability to televise a view of an athletic endeavor from a player's perspective would add another level of excitement to a televised sporting event. Therefore, what is needed is the ability reduce the variables associated with an actual live action game to a data bank and to reconstruct a synthetic animated version of a desired portion of active play from the data collected.